


Prologue

by Llamasandtea



Series: The Moon Chronicles [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-01
Updated: 2018-12-01
Packaged: 2019-09-05 07:56:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 851
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16806562
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Llamasandtea/pseuds/Llamasandtea
Summary: It was said that the Moon twins were born at midnight during a storm of a strength which had not been seen in decades.





	Prologue

Kelsie Moon’s labor was a long and difficult one. The woman was young and small and the child big and brash. The midwife was glad she had taken Kassia as her apprentice a year ago, or she would have had trouble keeping up with everything she had to do to ensure a safe and clean birth to the Moons’ first child. She was getting on in her years, after all, and their village was such a small one a second midwife had never been required.

At present, the young girl was busy tearing cloth she had gathered from the village-women into pieces, alternating from passing them dry or wet from a dip in fresh well-water to her mistress. Yes, she was very glad there was somebody here with her to ease her task. Her old bones were weary from the long day and the storm raging outside.

Jarl Moon, father to the yet-unborn Moon child, had been forced to leave his wife to the capable hands of the midwife and her apprentice. The storm was such that several huts’ roofs had been torn off, leaving their inhabitants exposed to the torrential rain beating down from the sky. Jarl and all of his apprentices were forced to go fix what they could of the huts to ensure the villagers and their possessions were not drowned.

Storm clouds had been steadily gathering throughout the day, and come night, they had unleashed their contents upon the small village of Hillfar. Kelsie Moon’s wails soon added themselves to the howl of the wind. 

“There, there,” the midwife murmured as she wiped the woman’s sweaty forehead with a wet cloth Kassia had passed her. “Try to relax, dearie. Relax into it. Ride out the pain, don’t fight it.”

Kelsie only grunted and whimpered in response, her breathing fast and ragged, her face gleaming in the low light of the candles positioned all around the midwife’s birthing cabin. The soon-to-be mother had been at it since morning, and the strain of the difficult birth was getting to her.

“Kassia, come here,” the midwife ordered the girl once she was done wiping Kelsie’s face. “Tell me, is the child ready to be born?”

Kassia bent down to look, her face tight in concentration. So young, thought the midwife. She would learn. With time, everybody does.

“Not long now, I think,” Kassia eventually said. 

“I think, she says,” the midwife muttered under her breath, too low to be heard over the wind’s howl. “There’s no ‘think’ when a baby’s coming out. It either is, or it isn’t.” And yet she let it slide, taking pity on the girl. She’d been with her since Kelsie had been carried into the cabin, so many hours ago, helping and carrying out orders with nary a moment’s hesitation. She did not deserve criticism after such good work.

“A few more,” the midwife said after taking a look herself. “A few more, and then the child will be ready to come out.”

As if in response, the wind howled louder and Kelsie’s wails became more high-pitched, as if competing with it for hegemony over loudness. Her breathing was harsher than ever as she trashed her head from side to side. A very difficult birth, yes.

A few minutes later, everything was ready. Kassia was ready with cloth and water to accept and wash the newborn when it would come, and the midwife had positioned herself to accept it.

“Now, Kelsie, now. Push!” she urged the young woman.

With a great cry that seemed to resonate in the midwife’s head, Kelsie pushed out a child.

“Yes, Kelsie, yes,” she told her, handing off the crying baby to Kassia to wash off after she cut the cord tying it to its mother. “You did it, you did it. It’s over, it’s–“ but even as she said it, Kelsie cried out again and another child was pushed out. It was all the midwife could do to catch it.

“Twins!” Kassia gasped. Twins were rare and said to bring luck to the family. The village hadn’t seen twins born for several generations already. 

As the girl said the word, a great clap of thunder was heard, so loud it seemed to have come from right outside the cabin’s closed window. So loud it rattled every single one of the midwife’s bones. Somewhere in the distance, though none of the women in the cabin saw it, a great bolt of lightning struck the forest.

“Twins,” the midwife repeated. Distantly, she noticed the rain had stopped as she washed the second child. One by one, Kassia and the midwife handed the screaming newborns to their tired but proud mother. 

“Kelli Ami Moon,” she named the girl. As if in response, the baby cried harder.

“Jaxson Arlen Moon,” she named the boy. The baby’s eyes were wide open, and he watched his mother even as he cried at the top of his little lungs.

In the sky, the moon shone unto the village. As two new lives were introduced into the world, a tree burned in the forest, and midnight came.


End file.
